


A Step Forward

by Elkian (SuperImposed)



Series: INFOBAR Lore [2]
Category: Original Work, Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble, F/M, Gen, INFOBARverse, Mostly Gen, Well - Freeform, i almost tagged this orion/ariel but, they're cellphones kids, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-18
Updated: 2019-05-18
Packaged: 2020-03-07 05:25:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18866626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperImposed/pseuds/Elkian
Summary: A vignette about Orion Pax and Ariel.





	A Step Forward

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually older than the chapter I just posted for Glimpses but I haven't gotten around to posting yet.
> 
> Sidenote: I have NOT encountered Elita-1, let alone Ariel, in G1 yet. Her personality is NOT analogous to extent canon afaik. (Neither is Orion's but he's got more fleshing out so)

"Heard you got fired again."

"Do you ever knock?" Orion Pax asked, mostly rhetorically. He shut the door of his 'bungalow' behind her.

Ariel shot him a Look over her shoulder. "No. Where's your touch-up brushes."

"Usual spot," Orion answered, crossing his arms and watching her. "Uh....."

Ariel popped open the drawer and dug out what would be a fine-point brush for a mid-size. Her optics met his as she pulled a tin of paint out of her subspace.

"I kind of thought magenta was more... purple?" he tried. "I mean, you look great, as always, I just thought..."

"No, you're not wrong. This is mauve." She unscrewed the paint, dipping the brush in and touching up her unpainted hands, all without breaking optic contact. He was equal parts envious and terrified.

"You look like you stabbed a minibot and then stood under their dying body."

Ariel’s energon-pink faceplates twitched with a short-lived, sharp-edged smile. Orion always feels like he comes out bleeding after their interactions. “Oh, Orion. If I was going to start killing bots so publicly, I wouldn’t stop at _one_.”

"...has anyone ever told you you're _terrifying?_ "

“You’re the only one who has the gears to,” she reminded him. He took a moment to glance at her handiwork. Great, now he needed to replace that brush or live with purple highlights.

Without looking, the headset screwed the paint shut and stowed it again. Orion was half-sure she was some kind of witch, really. "So. Fired. Coming back to the call center?"

"Why Ariel, was that an actual _question mark_?" She gave him another Look. Orion shrugged. "I'm pretty sure they don't want me back."

Silence hung between them for a moment.

_"Actually, sir, their name is **Repository**. A Receptacle is that thing that you apparently dump the contents of your brain module into before-"_

Orion shook himself and shunted that memory to long-term storage.

The call center would be better. But not by much.

“So, no call center," Ariel said, interrupting his reflection. "What's your next plan."

He shrugged. “What, do you think it’ll be that hard for such an incredibly employable mech such as myself to find an occupation?”

She peered at him, optics sharp as ever. “Have you considered therapy.”

“WOW. Personal remarks, much?”

“As a career.”

“Oh,” Orion said, feeling stupid. He scowled nonetheless. “Because I’m a comm?”

“Because you listen to people,” she said bluntly. The headset tilted her helm to the side, something smile-like ghosting her mouth before she continued. "I told you about the paint one time. Months ago. You remembered. You remember what hacks your bosses off the worst."

He shrugged. “Anyone can do that.”

“Not like you do,” Ariel said. “There’s a reason your pede-in-intake moments always culminate in termination.”

“Please word that differently,” Orion begged.

“Why do you always get fired, Pax.”

He huffed a little. "Because the second I get inv- lose my temper, I manage to spill all of someone's dirty secrets?"

Ariel actually did smile this time, blink-and-it's-gone. "Now that, but like you're helping. The person you're spilling on, not bystanders, I mean."

" _Please_ word things dif-" he paused. "....oh. Huh."

"See."   


Orion groaned and put his face in his hands. To his minor surprise, the other commtype laid her hand on his shoulder for a brief moment. “I can’t believe you just tricked me into admitting I’d be a good therapist.”

Ariel walked away to rinse the brush. “Yeah, yeah. See if I come visit you any more.”

Orion lowered his hands and said, “Why even are you here?”

She held up a brush, the fine-tip typical for detailing on larger mechs. “Using your brushes.”

“You won’t be able to do that if I go to school,” he pointed out, “dorms and all.”

“Then I’ll buy my own.”

“You could do that now!”

“Yes,” Ariel said, meeting his optics, “I could.”

“So why always come to my place?”

There was a beat of silence before Ariel turned the cleanser stream off and clapped a damp hand to his shoulder. “Well, you will definitely benefit from those psychology classes.”

 

Several months later, Orion disturbed his dormmate by sitting up in berth and shouting “OH.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is about half-and-half copy-paste from the initial draft and rewording (the latter half of the fic is more pasted than the first half) just fyi
> 
> The more I think about Transformers, the more I think, "wow, pink bots (femmes) would be _terrifying_ , since they're the color of blood". It seems I'm not alone in this.
> 
> (purple highlights - because pink_blue. kind of an older line, sorry if that wasn't clear)


End file.
